Scaling DevTools

In this episode, I pull out some of the key DevTools lessons I've learned in the last 120 interviews. 

Including:

• The importance of deeply understanding the problem you're solving by talking to developers directly, as emphasized by Adam Frankl.
• Ant Wilson's advice on experimenting with different go-to-market strategies and channels rather than relying on conventional wisdom. 
• Zeno Rocha's emphasis on the importance of the last mile—packaging and presentation. He shares how spending more time on documentation and onboarding materials helped his open-source project gain massive traction.
• Gonto's perspective that "it's better to be different than better," and how creativity, uniqueness, and understanding developer habits are key to successful marketing.
• My personal reflections on overcoming fear and discomfort in go-to-market efforts.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. https://workos.com.

Søren Bramer Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Prisma, joins us to discuss the journey of building one of the largest developer communities in DevTools. 

Søren shares how Prisma's deliberate strategies have shaped its growth, feature prioritization, and the launch of new products like Prisma Postgres. 

We also explore the challenges of managing a vast user base and how Prisma is adapting to shifts in application development.

We discuss:

• How intentional partnerships with educators and influencers fueled Prisma’s early growth.
• Strategies to engage the GraphQL community and gain visibility on platforms like Hacker News.
• Managing a large developer community while balancing innovation with stability.
• The evolution from Graphcool to Prisma ORM, including lessons from early pivots.
• Launching Prisma Postgres and how community feedback influenced its development.
• Implementing a simple, usage-based pricing model and reducing infrastructure costs through self-hosting.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. https://workos.com/

Links:

• Prisma (https://www.prisma.io/)
• Prisma Postgres (https://www.prisma.io/postgres)
• Feldera (https://feldera.com/)

Keith Casey aka Danger Casey is a Senior Product Manager at Pangea - a Security Platform as a Service.

Before Pangea, Keith was Director of Product Marketing at ngrok and worked at Okta and Twilio in a variety of roles - including DevRel.  Keith also curates API Developer Weekly.

In this episode we discuss Keith's writings on the future of DevRel.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Links:
- original article
- followup article
- How to kill your sdks in one easy step
- Developer productivity and selling to developers
- api developer weekly
- Pangea
- DevRel = zirp phenomenom? 

Louis Knight-Webb is the CEO and co-founder of Bloop.

Bloop helps with modernizing legacy software, particularly focusing on COBOL and mainframes.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Takeaways:
- Mainframes and COBOL are still foundational in many industries.
- Bloop started with a focus on code search but evolved to address legacy code modernization.
- The transition from COBOL to Java is a significant challenge for many enterprises.
- Innovative approaches are needed to effectively translate legacy code.
- Ensuring code quality during migration is crucial to avoid operational disruptions.
- AI can enhance the code translation process but has limitations with legacy languages.

Links:
- Louis Knight-Webb
- Bloop 

Chapters:
00:00 The Legacy of Mainframes and COBOL
03:05 The Evolution of Bloop and Code Search
05:58 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Code
08:48 Navigating the Enterprise Code Landscape
12:11 The Transition from COBOL to Java
15:05 Innovative Approaches to Code Translation
18:02 Ensuring Code Quality and Functionality
20:56 The Future of Development and AI Integration
23:52 Building Relationships in the Enterprise Space
26:45 The Long-Term Vision for Legacy Code Modernization

Guy Podjarny is the founder of Tessl - a startup that is rethinking how we build software.

Guy previously founded Snyk - a dependency scanning tool worth billions of dollars. Before Snyk, Guy founded Blaze, which he sold to Akamai.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

In this conversation, we talk about the future of programming and the future of DevTools. 

• The future of programming will focus on writing specifications.
• Trust in AI tools
• Snyk is an example of how tools can integrate into existing workflows.
• Code can become disposable, allowing for flexibility in development.
• Specifications will serve as repositories of truth in software development.
• Developers will need to adapt their skills to leverage AI tools effectively.
• Community collaboration is essential for the evolution of AI development tools.
• AI simplifies and democratizes the process of software creation

Thanks to Anna Debenham for making this happen. 

Tessa Kriesel is the founder of builtfor.dev, where she helps DevTools founders with GTM.

In this episode we talk about how she helps founders improve their go to market strategy in a short sprint.

Links:

• Built for Devs
• Tessa Kriesel 

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. https://workos.com/

We dig into the the build vs. buy dilemma for APIs, and the role of OpenAPI in effective documentation.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

We explore how AI is transforming the landscape of APIs and developer tools, and discuss the future of coding.

• The choice between building and buying SDKs depends on company maturity.
• OpenAPI is crucial for generating quality API documentation.
• AI is revolutionizing how APIs are created and consumed.
• Maintaining SDK libraries can be a significant challenge.
• Developer tools must evolve to keep pace with API design changes.
• Trust in AI-generated code is growing among developers.
• The future of coding will likely involve more AI integration.

Links:

• APIMatic
• Sid Maestre

Jake Cooper is the founder of Railway - an infrastructure platform that let's you build powerful infrastructure in a simple way.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

In this episode we discuss:
- Building a remote team with a flat structure
- Railway's sales team doing their best Minority Report impression
- Why leverage matters
- Building their own data centers
- Why it's important to do hard things

P.s. here's news about the tsunami warning 

Links:
- Railway 
- Jake Cooper
- Angelo from Railway 

In this conversation, Daksh Gupta, the CEO of Greptile - an AI code understanding API - shares:

• Why it’s important to do unique types of marketing, like making an energy drink
• Why most people misunderstand sales
• How companies are buying AI tools and why it will probably change soon

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Links:

• Greptile greptile.com 
• Mintlify https://mintlify.com/
• Greptile energy drink https://x.com/dakshgup/status/1769813883194130856 
• Steve Ballmer boxes https://x.com/dakshgup/status/1854224733086359582 
• PostHog competition https://x.com/james406/status/1854557581030670478  

Ankur Goyal is the founder of ​Braintrust​, a year old LLM eval platform that is already used by Figma, Vercel and Stripe and just raised $36m from a16z. It's a rocketship.

This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Key Success Factors
- Started with a targeted list of ~50 companies already working with AI
- Focused on early adopters and innovators in the space
- Strategy: If they could make the frontrunners happy, others would follow

Links:
- Braintrust
- Ankur Goyal
- Alana Goyal
- Basecase 
- Elad Gil 
- Martin Casado

Chapters:
* 00:00  Introduction to BrainTrust and Its Success
* 02:52  The Importance of User Research in Product Development
* 06:11  Building Relationships with Key Customers
* 09:05  The Role of Feedback in Product Improvement
* 11:54  The Impact of Mentorship on Entrepreneurial Success
* 15:11  Identifying Market Opportunities in AI Development
* 18:00  Effective User Interviews and Problem Validation
* 20:59  The Evolution of BrainTrust's Product Features
* 23:55  Advice for Aspiring DevTool Founders
* 26:48  Exciting Developments in the DevTool Space